Chocolate/Story
Fondness Story I. Life and Death In a torrential downpour, pedestrians rushed to get out from the rain, but most couldn't escape it and remained standing where they were. One of them was my master. The other one was her sweetheart, who served on the national army. He received orders to go abroad to fight in a war for the nation. "Are you leaving?" My Lady asked her love with her back facing me. "Uh huh." The man answered blankly. "When are you coming back?" I am not sure. The two of them fell into silence right along with the pitter of the falling rain. Don't wait for me. My Lady the cooking attendant's body froze up, staring at her lover as he finished speaking, turned and left gone, she didn't move a muscle. I wanted to remind her not to let herself get soaked, but I didn't know how I should interject. After that day, My Lady fell ill with a high fever, and was tortured by nightmares day and night. She kept calling her lover's name in a daze. Sometimes, I held her hand, hoping to help her calm down, sometimes I wiped her face down with a towel, wiping away tears an her face, and hoping her furrowed brows would find a release. After her fever broke, she never spoke of her lover again, and wouldn't let other men get close to her. I was so worried when I looked at how unhappy she was everyday. I learned a few sweet nothings that couples utter to each other to make her smile more. But she said, "Thank you, Chocolate, but if it's not him saying it to me it means nothing at all." It was then that I realized that no one could ever take that person's place. II. Betrayal I thought it would get better as time passes. But a few springs and autumns had passed, Master would still go to the town's entrance every day, looking in the direction where her lover had departed. In this god forsaken world where nations fight against one another, there is always a need for someone to stand up, give up and throw everything away in order to fight. That's why master's lover gave up on her, yet she still picked it up and continued to hope. As she continued to stare, I looked at her figure, my heart filled with so many feelings I could not name. Since the day I was summoned to this world, I was crowned with the title, "Bestower of the Gift of Perfect Love". People blindly believed that if they could summon me, they could achieve sincere love. Those were just whimsical human made rumours, but it's not bad to make it come true once in a while. I made an excuse to travel to a distant place to visit a spirit friend (food soul), so I requested master to give me a long vacation, then traveled to where master's lover was stationed. If I could at least get a letter from that man, perhaps master will stop looking so lonely. But as I arrived at the military camp that night, what I got was shocking news. "He's not here anymore." "Was he killed? " "Killed? That's very laughable, he's a deserter. He ran off while on the way here. He's probably living somewhere being incognito." I couldn't accurately describe the feelings I felt when I heard the news. All I knew was that on the road home, every step I took felt heavy. I didn't know how to face my master who waited days after days for her lover. So focused I was with worry, that I didn't expect the news that reached me the moment I returned home. "What a poor thing. They weren't married yet, right?" "That's not it, I heard her man went to fight with the army." "Oh my, no wonder no one was looking after her while she was sick." The crowds were chattering. I watched as my master laid in the cold coffin, then buried in the soil and the tombstone set up. I felt the blood in my body turn heavy and hard. When did she start getting sick? And why did she not tell me and kept it to herself all this time? If I hadn't went and searched for that damn man, would the ending have been different? I stared at the smiling face of my master on the tombstone, and felt something wet slowly trailing down my face. I placed the rose in my hand near master's bright smile. "The flowers around you are too elegant. This colour still suits you." I stroked the tombstone and muttered to myself. "One of two lovers had left this world first. Leaving the other behind would be painful, wouldn't it? As a spirit of yours, how can you let the person you loved allow you to experience this kind of loneliness?" "Wait for me for a little longer, I will bring him to your side." III. Last Word It took me a few days looking through places where that man had shown up, and I finally found his trace. From a distance, I saw the house where that man with his wife and children were happily laughing. The intent to kill spread out from my heart and throughout my body. I've never been this angry before, my heart thundering as if it'll drown in a breath, every cell in my body screaming in grief and anger. 'Kill him.' 'Kill him, kill the person who had let her down.' 'His death is a sin he deserves.' 'His wife and children should be killed as well, and anyone related to him has no right to live in this world.' My whole mind had become mad as I walked towards the house. With every step, the killing intent filling my heart grew. The surrounding trees swayed and rustled loudly, as if they sensed my turbulent hatred coiling restlessly with my power, as if they were echoing the rage in my heart. But suddenly a figure appeared in front of me. I narrowed my eyes and stared at the stranger, and I realized it was an unfamiliar food soul. "Step aside." I said with an expressionless face. "What can you do even if you killed them?" The unfamiliar food soul seemed to know what I was about to do next, watching me while they leaned against a tree. "What does this have to do with you?" I restrained myself from wanting to quickly shred the unfamiliar food soul in front of me. I repeated my words. "Step aside." "This is not a result of what she wanted." The stranger didn't care about the murderous intent in my words. He took out a letter, handed it to me and said, "I apologize for not introducing myself, I am the manager of Satan coffee house. In accordance with the request in this letter, I am here to stop you from what you're about to do next." Staring at the letter scrawled with a familiar signature, my body couldn't stop trembling, the anger suddenly turning into sadness. I held back my tears and immediately tore it open. To the unknown proprietors of Satan Coffee House, I know well that my body will not last through the winter. But in this world there is still one thing that I can't put my heart at ease about, and that is my Food Soul. I don't know when I will leave him, but all the same, I ask of you to please don't let him be saddened because of my death. I'm simply a passerby in his time, and I want him to meet better people and experience different things. I have attached my most valuable item with this letter, and I hope it can be used as the commission fee for my request. Salina. IV. Thank You I glared at the unfamiliar food soul's face and slowly opened my mouth, "What's the meaning of this?" "Just as what you have read." He answered me along with a smile, "Not too long ago the owner of this letter sent it through one of our black mailboxes that are scattered everywhere. The payment has already been made as well, so we've come to execute the request." "You think you can stop me with your strength alone?" "The one who's stopping you isn't me." He looked into my eyes. I felt as if he had seen through the thoughts of my heart. "It's Salina." I stood there, and sighed. I was unsure of when the turbulent energy around me had stopped, the rustling of the leaves stilled and the trees ceased their swaying. I looked at the house that was so close. The murderous intent in my heart faded, leaving me weary and empty. All I wanted now was to leave this place. "He was the only one she ever had eyes for." I mumbled without any strength left in my voice, "Yet her last words was she worried about me instead. What a capricious master." "Humans are interesting, aren't they?" That unfamiliar food soul smiled as he studied me. He took out a necklace from his pocket, and placed it in my hand. "If you have no other place to go, you are welcome to come find me at Satan coffee shop." A few days later, with nothing but boredom on my mind, I walked into the coffee house. With my hand on my head, I looked towards a busy but familiar figure at the bar counter, and couldn't help but ask a question. "You gave me the payment fee, won't it be a loss to your business?" The payment fee in the letter that Salina had attached was the necklace that he gave me, a clean leather cord with a blue jewel. It was an accessory she had worn all the time. The figure at the bar counter turned towards me, again with that professional smile on his face. "I have never done any business that brings a loss to the business," He answered. "The price of the jewel may be expensive, but it's just a dead item without any feelings." He skillfully brewed a cup coffee, and placed it in front of me. He glanced at the necklace that I had wrapped around my wrist and answered, "I have already received a very satisfying payment." I took a sip of the offered coffee. It had a bitter taste, but the fragrance that wafted from the hot liquid was sweet. "Thank you for your coffee." "You're welcome." V. Chocolate Due to its bitter acerbity and sweet delectability, “chocolate” is regarded as “the food that expresses love.” There was once a cooking attendant who summoned successfully the food soul named Chocolate, the people of Tierra gave another title to Chocolate, “The Harbinger of Perfect Love.” Chocolate’s cooking attendant looked forward to his “extra role,” but actually, Chocolate did not really understand the meaning of love until the woman Salina came into his life. It was then that he learned a bit about love. Unfortunately, Salina’s love ended in tragedy. Chocolate couldn’t accept the truth, he wanted the man who hurt Salina to pay the price. But he was stopped by the manager of Satan Coffee House who brought Salina’s letter. There was no one he really cared about and nothing for him to do. Chocolate went to the Satan Coffee House in the dense forest when he got bored. He was just curious about what food soul who had stopped him did with his life, but, if he understood it all purely by happenstance, he would know real feelings of worry and excitement. Love comes when you least expect it, but exactly when fate intends it. Category:Food Soul Story